Russ Springer says purposely hitting Barry Bonds with this pitch on May 16, 2006 is the biggest regret of his 18-year career. / Lenny Ignelzi, AP

by Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports

by Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports

He wishes he could take back that night of May 16, 2006, throwing the one pitch that still haunts him today.

Springer admitted Monday for the first time in an interview with USA TODAY Sports that he intentionally hit home run king Barry Bonds, who was immersed in a performance-enhancing drug scandal that rocked baseball.

Springer now hopes Boston Red Sox starter Ryan Dempster can live with himself for repeating the same act Sunday night against New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, the primary target of Major League Baseball's Biogenesis drug investigation.

"I wasn't proud of it then," Springer, an 18-year veteran, said in a telephone interview from his Louisiana home, "and I'm not proud of it now. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't hit him.

"I didn't like him, he didn't have a reputation of being too nice to other players, but that's not why I hit him. I wasn't trying to defend the game against allegations he had against him for PEDs.

"I just knew the way everyone felt about him, and I just got caught up in the moment. So I hit him on purpose.

"Now, I have to live with that for the rest of my life."

So does Dempster.

Dempster, of course, denies hitting Rodriguez on purpose. He says the pitch got away from him, just like the other three that nearly hit Rodriguez.

Yet unlike Springer that evening, Dempster was issued only a warning and was permitted to stay in the game.

Springer, warned by home-plate umpire Joe West after his first-pitch slider bounced two feet behind Bonds' buttocks, was ejected when he succeeded with his last pitch, a 92-mph fastball that hit him in the back of the right shoulder.

The home crowd at Houston's Minute Maid Park gave Springer a standing ovation, with some fans even bowing, just like the Fenway Park crowd did Sunday night when Dempster hit Rodriguez.

"Whether you like me or hate me, that was wrong," Rodriguez told news reporters afterward. "That was unprofessional and silly."

It was unprofessional and silly, too, in 2006, Springer says, but the circumstances surrounding Bonds were different. He was linked to the BALCO doping scandal, but had not been suspended from baseball.

He had not yet been indicted on charges he lied to a grand jury investigating BALCO; he ultimately was acquitted of those charges, save for an obstruction count still under appeal.

It was a different time, playing under a more lenient set of rules, with IRS agent Jeff Novitzky, and not MLB investigators, doing the dumpster-diving at BALCO.

But Bonds was going for baseball's most cherished record. He had 713 homers. One more and he would be tied with Babe Ruth, trailing only Hank Aaron.

It was a record few outside San Francisco, particularly Commissioner Bud Selig, wanted to see broken.

Springer certainly wasn't ready for it. He told me before the game that if Bonds was going to make history, his name wouldn't be attached to it. Springer didn't tell me he would hit Bonds, only that Bonds would not homer off him.

Springer lived up to his vow.

He still maintained Monday that he didn't purposely try to hit Bonds in his first four pitches. It wasn't until the fifth pitch, on a 3-1 count, that he says he was aiming for him.

"It was just kind of a thing that kind of snowballed," Springer says. 'I got caught up in the moment. I remember getting a new ball from the umpire, the crowd is on their feet, and he's looking at me funny. I looked at him, and I'm thinking, 'What's his problem?'

"So I dropped him.

"I didn't have intentions of policing the game. I didn't want to injure him. I knew he'd go on to break all the records. But he wasn't going to do it against me.

"It was the first time I was ever thrown out of a game."

And to this day, Springer regrets it, although no apologies are planned if they ever cross paths again.

"I don't think I would apologize," Springer says, "but I know I wouldn't do the same thing again if I had to do it all over again. Too many kids saw it. It was a bad example for them to see.

"I mean, I've pitched in 740 games. I pitched for winning teams, playoff teams and in World Series games. I did so much in my career that I'm proud of.

"But the only thing I'm known for is that one pitch, on one night.

"That's a weird deal."

Dempster, 36, who has pitched 16 seasons, might suffer a similar fate.

There are a whole lot of players out there who don't care for Rodriguez. Some can't stand him, wishing he'd never play again.

Yet Rodriguez is a member of the Major League Baseball Players Association. He has the legal right to appeal his 211-game suspension for alleged performance-enhancing drug use. Those are the rules.

And Dempster, one of the most popular players in the game and among news media, can't be the judge and jury in this soap opera.

You can scream on top of the pitcher's mound that you hate him, you can tear him apart in the news media like Dempster's Red Sox teammate John Lackey, but you can't throw at him to send a message.

MLB officials, as much as they dislike Rodriguez, too, have no choice but to suspend Dempster. He should be suspended for at least six games, ensuring he misses at least one start.

Home-plate umpire Brian O'Nora might have missed the opportunity to send the proper message, but MLB has no choice in this matter:

Dempster must be suspended, just like Springer, a reliever who was suspended for four games.

"I deserved it," Springer said.

So does Dempster.

Max Scherzer, the Detroit Tigers' Cy Young Award candidate and one of the most vocal players in his contempt for those suspended for performance-enhancing drugs, might not care for Rodriguez any more than Dempster.

Still, he says, no one should be permitted to take baseball law into their own hands and intentionally hit another player for their off-field conduct.

"I really don't understand why it happened, trying to take a shot at somebody," Scherzer told USA TODAY Sports on Monday. "We just faced the Yankees. We didn't have this overwhelming urge to drill him because he's playing under the appeal process.

"We have a system in place. It allows you to play under an appeal. Those are the rules. Those are the facts. It doesn't matter if you're innocent or guilty, you can choose the appeal process.